The natural=beach tag is used to mark a loose geological landform along the coast or along another body of water consisting of sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, cobblestones or sometimes shell fragments etc.

For seaside resorts use leisure=beach_resort for the boundary of the resort, which may include accommodation and other facilities and which may include one or more actual beaches. For areas of sand that are not beaches, use natural=sand or surface=sand (or a more specific tag describing the area).

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How to map

Coastal beaches should be mapped down to the mean high water spring line (natural=coastline) or to the edge of a lake or similar. Use name=* to give the name of the beach, surface=* to define the surface formation (sand, gravel, pebbles) and supervised=* to indicate if the beach has a lifeguard (yes, no, interval - in the format of opening_hours=*). The area between the mean high water spring line and the low water line could be mapped using natural=shoal.